Littleton Office Counselors

I enjoy helping couples cultivate healthy and intimate relationships and to heal from the trauma that often comes from sexual addiction and infidelity. I teach couples the how to begin living in deeper intimacy and healthier ways to work through conflict.  My clients will learn the meaning of healthy boundaries and to understand  the deeper issues and desires in a healthy relationship. I design counseling session to suit the needs of each unique client and I always work to create a therapeutic environment that is safe, healing, and honest.

My training and experience is in working with spouse’s/partner’s of sex addicts.  I help the spouse to work through the trauma of being betrayed and grieving the loss of what she thought she had in the relationship. My sessions assist my client to communicate her hurt, pain, and deep sadness. Also to establish healthy boundaries with the addicted partner and to develop her own voice, self-care, and a healthy network of support outside the addict.  My goal is for the spouse of the addict to move forward in her life and to realize her own value and worth with or without the addict being in her life.

I am a Licensed Professional Counselor with a Master’s Degree from Denver Seminary and a Business Degree from the University of Denver. I have received training through PREP (Prevention and Relationship Enhancement Program), Prepare/Enrich and many other trainings in workshops and conferences.   Personally, I have been happily married over 28 years and I have three adult children.

Limited New Client Availability; $160 per session fee

So often the decision to start therapy begins with discomfort, pain, feeling “off,” or experiencing an event that changes everything. The intensity that life can bring can feel overwhelming and numbing, exhausting the body, mind, spirit, and heart. Having attended therapy myself for over 10 years I can understand how difficult it is to take the first steps of looking for a counselor and the enormous task of reaching out. As I write this my hope is that there is enough information, personality, and comfort in these few words that the next step of reaching out feels a little easier.

I often use metaphors as they help me picture experiences in a different light, giving new opportunities for growth and self-compassion. Life can be such a mix of light and dark, beauty and decay, growth and pruning. My hope is that within a safe and confidential space you feel secure and are able to share, to express, and maybe even grow and dream.

I attend Colorado State University and worked in various careers before deciding to pursue my master’s degree from Denver Seminary in Mental Clinical Health Counseling.

My areas of focus include:

• Family systems and family dynamics
• Adolescent counseling, especially processing through traumatic events, loss, and school shootings
• Grief and loss
• Prenatal and postpartum therapy
• Premarital counseling
• Anxiety
• Depression

I’m a Colorado native though I moved quite a bit: I graduated from Columbine High School and love working in the CHS community as well as the surrounding area. I love climbing, hiking, visiting national parks, and adventuring with my husband and 9-month-old daughter.

My favorite part of being a counselor is the opportunity to see clients’ strengths and how, with a little bit of guidance, they can make desired changes that lead to a more meaningful and worthwhile life. I believe that my ability to unconditionally accept and support clients from all walks of life makes this possible. My desire is to help all of my clients live the life they were created for. I am experienced in working with adolescents and adults.

Born and raised in Colorado, I grew up in the southwest Jefferson County area. After I graduated from Columbine High School, I obtained my Bachelors degree in Elementary Education from Metropolitan State University of Denver and taught in Jefferson County Schools for 5 years. I then became a registered nurse and have worked in dialysis, surgical services, transplant, psychiatric services, and hospice.

I completed my Masters degree in Clinical Mental Health Counseling at Denver Seminary, graduating with Honors and was awarded the Dr. James R. Beck Counseling Licensure Award for excellence and potential in the field of licensed therapy. I am certified in group and individual crisis intervention and peer support from the International Critical Incident Stress Foundation and am trained in EMDR. As a life-long-learner I delight in sharing my love of learning with my clients.

THERAPEUTIC APPROACH

Counseling works best as a collaboration. We will work together to help you come to new realizations and make the changes you desire. My seminary education has prepared me to help you discover how spirituality can enhance your mental health if this is where you feel led. I take a person-centered approach to therapy, which means that I seek to understand your current experience with openness and authenticity. The answers to a more satisfying life are available. I would be honored to collaborate with you on your journey.

Focus and expertise:

• PTSI/PTSD, Trauma-EMDR Certified
• Veterans and First Responders and their Families
• Spouses/Partners of Sex Addicts- Individual and Group
• Anxiety
• Depression
• Grief and loss
• Faith and spirituality

Online Appointments Only

*I schedule Weekday and Saturday appointments.

I specialize in counseling couples with betrayal, pre-marital, marital, blending families of divorce and divorce concerns.  Utilizing effective tools such as Prepare and Enrich, PAIR Assessments, teaching proper communication and various therapeutic techniques, I help couples create recovery and develop a healthy and harmonious relationship.

In addition, I value working with men dealing with Sexual Addiction.  Utilizing numerous therapeutic techniques proven as effective by Front Range Counseling Center, I provide counseling for those afflicted with Pornography and Sex Addiction as a result of Intimacy Disorders.  I have received specialized training from Front Range Counseling Center’s Steven Marks and Kevin Leapley.  Both counselors are certified in various specialties related to Intimacy Disorders resulting in sexual addictions. Combined with my specialty in Marriage and Family Counseling, I can help couples afflicted with this disorder towards, recovery, reconciliation and understanding of the addiction.

I also specialize in teaching Anger Management and providing Anger Management Therapy.  My Master’s Degree required that I take additional course work in the studies of anger.  Since most anger is expressed in intimate relationships, I have provided Anger Management Therapy for couples, individual’s and group’s with anger concerns since 2012.  The techniques used are recognized by the state of Colorado District Courts thereby allowing me to provide services to those that are required to attend Anger Management as a condition of personal legal matter’s they may have.  I’ve received additional training in Anger Management from Doctor Michael Ballard.  Doctor Ballard is a Certified Anger Management Specialist, Adjunct Professor of Counseling Studies at the University of Denver, and author of numerous anger management books. Doctor Ballard is the creator of the ASCEND method for anger management.

Where families are affected by the stress of having a child with a learning disability such as ADHD, Downs Syndrome, or Autism, I can provide an empathetic counseling perspective through personal experience.  I can further provide an empathetic counseling perspective to both individuals and families who have experienced the trauma associated with a sudden disability.

I have personal experience with sudden life changes such as paralysis and how those difficult circumstances can impact families.  Some of my personal life experiences that I have which effects families, include having a brother with Downs Syndrome and a father paralyzed in a car accident.  Both of these circumstances brought about a desire within me to help families in comparable situations.

I also counsel’s individuals troubled with anxiety, depression, personality disorders, learning disabilities, change of life stages, sexual dysfunction, career changes, and other life challenges.

I am a graduate of Liberty University in Lynchburg Virginia with a Master’s Degree in Marriage and Family Therapy.  I am a member of the American Association of Christian Counselors (AACC), American Counseling Association (ACA), American Association for Marriage and Family Therapy (AAMFT), National Anger Management Association (NAMA), National Association for Down Syndrome (NADS) and the American Association of People with Disabilities (AAPD).

Recently I read a memoir by Dr. Edith Eva Edgar, a holocaust survivor and therapist. In her memoir, The Choice, Dr. Edgar writes how one of the first things she asks new clients on their initial visit is, “why now?” It is a simple yet profound question. For some people the why can be attributed to a singular event, but for others it may be more similar to something that has been boiling for a long time and it has finally reached a breaking point. There is not one why that is more sacred or special than the other. Regardless of how my clients have gotten to their why, I view it as an honor to be able to step in and journey with them once they decide to make the choice to seek counseling. To me, therapy is ultimately about increasing self-awareness and the discovery of “why now” is one of the many I hope to see with my clients as they move towards health.

After graduating from Azusa Pacific University with my BA in Christian Ministries, I spent three years living in Turkey working with Middle Eastern refugees. My time in Turkey helped me decide to earn my master’s degree in clinical mental health counseling from Denver Seminary, which I finished in 2022.

As a therapist, I operate from a number of different modalities, including person centered, cognitive behavior therapy (CBT), internal family systems (IFS), and attachment theory.

My approach to counseling is heavily influenced by my own life experiences and perspective on hardship. Mainly, that people have an incredible ability to heal and grow, not despite, but directly out of their traumatic experiences. I look at therapy as one of many tools that can be utilized to help people grow and progress. I have seen this in my own life and many of current and former clients’ lives.

Outside being a therapist, I enjoy time in the mountains, walks with my golden retriever, and a cup of coffee on my porch swing.